We’ve just baptised one of our Iranian members – a very
intelligent artist, whose faith is real and lively. It was a happy occasion,
celebrated with other members of the Wednesday Bible Study group, who provided
refreshments afterwards. She is another example of the growing number of
converts that are being seen here. I’ve mentioned previously the phenomenon of
Moslem women coming to church after dreaming about Jesus, and the Lighthouse Church
reported a family turning up at their worship last week after the father had
had a similar dream; they were then moved to make a profession of faith. We saw
an interesting variant of that last week, when a young woman came into St
John’s just before Tuesday evening prayers; apparently she had come, because a
friend of hers had dreamed about her coming to church to light a green candle.
She had never been inside a church before. We were puzzled about why the candle
had to be green; as we didn’t have one, she was going to buy one and come back
another time. We pray it leads her further into exploring Christianity.
Last week also, I was stopped outside the church by
members of the Turkish church who were keeping the church open for visitors. A
man had just turned up; a family member had just died and they wanted to bring
her body into church for an hour that afternoon, ‘for prayers’. I agreed that I
would open up for them, and contacted the leader of the Lighthouse Church, an
American with good Turkish, to see if he could help. When we both arrived at
the church later, other people were there and we discovered that most of the
family spoke neither Turkish nor English, as they were Georgian Christians –
did we speak Russian, and was I an Orthodox priest? Shortly afterwards the rest
of the family arrived, with the city ambulance that was conveying a substantial
casket. The latter was carried into church, and placed on the altar; the lid
was opened and the body of the deceased – a woman in her early sixties – was raised
up, so that her face could be seen by the mourners. I improvised some prayers
from our funeral service, adding Alleluias and Kyrie Eleisons, in the hope that
might convey something to the family, including the woman’s daughters, one of
whom was distraught with grief. We never discovered what had happened, or where
the body was being transferred, but after 40 minutes they left – hopefully we
had enabled them to mourn for their mother, and get some comfort.
Nathanael’s visit to us was followed by Becky’s; so we
were able to do some more exploring of new and old sites. The newest was a
day-trip to Bergama (Pergamum) which has impressive ruins on its acropolis, including
a vertiginously steep theatre on the hill-side, looking down into the valley. A
large brick temple in the town had been converted into a church dedicated to St
John in the Byzantine period. We also saw the famous healing centre, the
Asclepion, which in the 2nd century AD had been the base for the
physician Galen, whose insights into causes of ill-health were influential on
medical practice for centuries afterwards. Although it was clearly pagan, in
some ways the centre resembled Christian centres like Burrswood, with spaces
for a variety of therapies – music, bathing, exercise and a form of
counselling.
On another daytrip with Becky we came across a group
gathered outside a community centre where some people were cooking something
like doughnuts in a large pan of oil heated by calor gas. We were intrigued,
and told by a young woman with good English that this was probably because a
family member had died, and they wanted to give these away to by-passers. We
seemed to be included, so received a few of these delicacies, which we ate
while praying peace for the deceased and their family. Becky also enjoys eating
out, so we had a very pleasant week with her.
Now it is again just the two of us in the flat, as we
enter into the final week of our time in Izmir. The weather is at last becoming
a bit more bearable, with freshness at morning and in the evening.
Please pray:
1. For
our final Sunday service, and the process of leave-taking from our new
‘family’.
2. For
those who will be maintaining the worship and teaching after we leave Izmir.
3. For
the Diocese to move more quickly in short-listing candidates for interview in
September.
4. For
our packing up, and safe travel back to the UK on Thursday morning.
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